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dirtwatchman · 3 months

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PARTIES: @dirtwatchman and @magmahearts TIME: Early goo, sometime after this thread. WHERE: Worm Row SUMMARY: Caleb is trying to rescue a cat during the goo disaster and Cass comes along just as he's starting to become trapped. Seeing that she's not in great shape he decides to tag along with her much to Cass' disappointment. They end up coming upon something neither of them expected. WARNINGS: None that I can remember, just sad thoughts.

The volunteer opportunities during this goo disaster were plentiful and Caleb had been making sure to do everything he could for the people of his hometown but nothing felt like enough. Working the shelters was a great help until he was standing around waiting to be told what to do. Going out and getting more supplies was fantastic until those supply pickups ran dry. He just felt like he wasn’t doing enough. Maybe it was dumb to go out on a rescue mission to Worm Row, but it was the right thing to do, right? He couldn’t just sit around while others suffered. People could live without him but there were too many out there that others couldn’t lose.

What was truly dumb though was straying from the rescue group. All it took was one frenzied cry of a cat for him to walk away from everyone doing a job. He’d promised to keep an eye out for a missing one after all. It wasn’t the one he was looking for but there was a calico stuck in one of the allies behind a tattoo parlor, goo blocking both ways out and slowly overtaking the objects down the path as it spread.

Caleb quickly jumped over the growing puddle and scooped the cat up into his arms, the animal only thrashing for a moment before it realized it was safer in the undead’s arms than on the ground as goo continued to come towards them. “Uh...well…” His eyes scanned the ground realizing it would have been easier to jump back without a terrified cat in his arms. As he tried to think of how to get back to the main street, someone walked by the entrance of the alley and he called out quickly to try and get their attention. “Hey! You think you could help me out real quick? Just need someone to hold the cat.”

Everything ached. Her shoulder where Rhett had stabbed her, her head where his knife had tried and failed to end her life, her arm where he’d twisted it to the point of breaking. Her pride, too, though that was a harder thing to admit. Cass knew she should be just… grateful to be alive, glad to still be breathing, but it was hard. She was angry about what had happened. She was afraid that it might happen again. She was desperate to be useful, somehow. And she was trying, as hard as she could, to hide all of this from Alex, who was already going through enough because of her.

Going to Worm Row to help with evacuation had felt like something she could do. She wasn’t much of a superhero as she was — maybe she’d never been much of a superhero at all — but she could still do something. She remembered her conversation with the woman online about the warehouses, about how the people who were sleeping inside them the way Cass used to before she’d found her cave would be forgotten in the evacuations. She didn’t want that to happen, couldn’t stand the thought of it.

So she’d broken away from the group she was with, circling around abandoned buildings and peering through windows. No one yet, but she thought she’d find someone eventually. She knew which buildings people tended to flock towards, after all. She was passing by the mouth of an alley when a voice called out, causing her to falter. She turned towards it, surprised to see a man holding a cat and surrounded by goo. “Oh, shit,” she said, quickly walking into the alley, careful to avoid the goo. “I’ve got you, yeah! Uh… Hand me the cat.”

Even with his long limbs Caleb wasn’t sure he’d be able to just hand her the creature. It was starting to wiggle in his arms again, still scared of the substance taking over the street and now realizing that something wasn’t quite right with him either. He tried to reach her outstretched hands with the animal as it flailed around but he kept having to move further back to stay away from the good still moving toward him. “As much as I don’t want to do this, I might have to gently toss it to you. Think you can handle it?” She wasn’t looking too great herself and he wondered if she should even be out here much less trying to help him rescue a cat.

But he didn’t have a choice, did he? At least she was on the other side of this, easily able to escape the spreading goo if she needed to. “Alright, on three.” Caleb eyed her wearily, hoping the cat wouldn’t freak out and start clawing at the girl. “One…two…three!” He tossed the cat gently after getting it as close to her as he could, hoping it would get to her safely and he could figure out how to get himself on the other side.

With the goo getting closer, his eyes went to the ground before he had a chance to see the outcome, feet stepping back once again. It was moving slowly but he didn’t have much more time to waste or else he’d be completely stuck. So he moved back a little more and got a running head start before jumping himself, landing not so gracefully on the other side of it all. Caleb’s shoulder was just inches from another pile of this stuff and he scrambled to his feet before his lack of coordination got him in even more trouble.

She hesitated at the question. Could she catch the cat if it was tossed to her? Her shoulder hurt just sitting there, and catching anything with any weight to it would likely pull at the injury uncomfortably. But something that moved and squirmed? That would be even harder. She studied the situation for a moment, attempting to find another solution before accepting, begrudgingly, that there really wasn’t one. She could either catch the cat, or… Or nothing. The only other option was to leave the little guy behind, and that wasn’t much of an option at all. So, with determination coloring her features, she nodded. “I can catch it,” she said with more confidence than she felt. She had to.

She steadied herself as he prepared to throw the cat, digging her heels in and holding her arms out. Her jaw was tightly clenched in anticipation for the inevitable pain that would come with the exercise, but she was ready. When he landed on three, she took a step forward with her arms out. The cat landed in them, and Cass bit back a cry of pain. Her whole shoulder felt like it was burning, like she’d been stabbed all over again. Her vision whited out momentarily, but she recovered quickly, holding the squirming cat close to her chest. She must have bitten her tongue in silencing her cry, because there was blood in her mouth. She swallowed it carefully, waiting for the man to join her.

He ran and jumped, and Cass transferred her hold on the cat so that she was using only one arm to hold it, freeing the other to reach out and steady the stranger to prevent him from rolling into the goo. When he was upright and goo free, she let out a shaky sigh and offered him the cat. “Are you okay?”

“I’m uh, I’m good.” Caleb nodded while checking himself to make sure nothing had gotten on him. It would be just his luck that the goo would have splashed onto his arm or something and he’d become a statue. But it wasn’t just him he was worried about either, the zombie looking over his helper as he took the cat back. He’d noticed her wince when she caught the animal, and now he could see a small amount of blood on her lips as his eyes passed over them. “Are you okay? Why are you bleeding?” Should she even be out in this mess? He’d noticed already that she wasn’t looking the best and now his brow was creased with worry seeing her up close.

Even as the cat struggled to get out of his arms. The animal's claws ran over his bare wrist and Caleb had to drop it before the thing could do more damage. A small grunt left his lips but the cat was halfway down the street before he looked back up. At least it was walking away from the goo. “That’s what I get for helping a stray, I guess. Just hope it doesn’t get into any more trouble.”

His attention went back to her, the concern growing the more he took her in. “Do you need…like, a chair or something? Maybe you should sit down?” The last thing either of them needed was for her to pass out in this. He wouldn’t just leave her of course but Caleb would rather it not come to that point if they could help it.

She hated how easily he recognized the pain in her expression. Sometimes, Cass wished that the unreadable expressions that came with being made of stone transferred to her glamour, too, that she could be stoic even with the illusion of humanity stretched across her rocky skin. She didn’t want to be the kind of person that other people had to worry about; she wasn’t supposed to be. She was a superhero. She used to think she was a good one. She wasn’t so sure of that anymore. “I just bit my tongue,” she said with a dismissive wave, hoping he wouldn’t ask any more questions. “The little guy was heavier than I thought he’d be. It caught me off guard.”

Apparently, she wasn’t the only one caught off guard by the animal; she watched as it clawed its way out of the stranger’s arms, dropping to the ground and taking off. She watched it go, hopeful that it would stay away from the goo. Would the goo have the same effect on cats as it did on people? It was hard to say. “I’m sure he’ll be okay,” she said softly. The cat disappeared behind a nearby building, and she turned back to the man.

She was tired. There was no denying it. Every inch of her ached, exhaustion from even this smallest of physical activities seeping into her very bones. She hated it, hated how weak she felt. She wasn’t supposed to feel like this. This shouldn’t be affecting her still, shouldn’t be such a persistent ache. Not physically, and not mentally, either. It was so stupid. Didn’t her mind know that she was fine? “No,” she said quickly, trying to straighten her back and look more steady. “No, I’m all good.”

There was something about the way she took her time to answer him, as if she were trying to decide whether she should placate him or tell the truth. Caleb could recognize the thought process anywhere seeing as he did it himself way too often. It was that drive to take care of everyone else before taking care of themselves, that need to be helpful, to know that their presence meant something rather than wonder if anything good came of it or not. It was obvious that something wasn’t right but he wasn’t going to push her to talk about it if she didn’t want to. He’d want the same if the situation was reversed. “Okay, only if you’re sure.” Which he knew she would say as such. It’s what he would do.

But he also didn’t feel right just walking away when clearly something was off with her. She looked too young to be out there on her own anyway, at least while a disaster was going on. “Uh, I lost my volunteer group so it seems I need something to do. Do you know where any volunteers are needed? Maybe we can head there together?” Caleb didn’t care if he was being too obvious, he wasn’t leaving her alone to pass out in this mess.

“I’m sure,” she replied, flashing her biggest grin. Her stomach churned, ached. It was a lie, and it wasn’t. She hadn’t specified what she was sure about. She was sure — sure that she didn’t want to talk about it, sure that she didn’t want to feel the way she felt, sure that she wished she could go back to how she’d been before. She was sure about a lot of things; that was part of the problem.

She hesitated, wondering why he was still here. Did she seem so helpless? The thought unnerved her. Before, it hadn’t bothered her much when people wanted to help her. If anything, it made her feel good — like a person worth helping, like someone people wanted to be okay. But it felt like poison now, like a slap to the face. She was strong, she was. She could do things on her own. When he spoke, asked about a volunteer group, it felt like she was being placated. But… not being alone was still a thing she wanted. So she told herself she was doing it for his sake. So he wouldn’t get stuck again, she she wouldn’t walk by a statue of him later. “I’ve been going around checking empty buildings for people,” she said. “You can help me with that if you want, I guess.”

Why was he still there? If she was so insistent on telling him that she was okay, if he could tell that she didn’t want any special treatment, Caleb should just walk away, right? He figured that she reminded him of Aria in some way and he didn’t enjoy the idea of leaving anyone in this mess, much less someone who made him think of a person he cared a lot about. If anyone had come across the girl he thought of as family in this predicament and left her then he would have so many unkind words to throw their way.

Nodding at her suggestion, he looked down Worm Row and back the other way, knowing that it was a good idea regardless of it only coming about so he didn’t leave her alone. Surely there were others that were trapped, not just that poor cat. Pulling his sleeve down further so that she couldn’t see that his arm had healed from the scratches already, Caleb pointed down one side of the street. “Are you going that way? I’d love to join, otherwise I’d be lost.” Which wasn’t far from the truth. He knew that he was a follower, never took charge, couldn’t make a decision unless he absolutely had to so he'd most likely be standing in the middle of the street doing nothing if she left without him. In some ways she was the one helping him.

“How many people have you seen so far? I’ve only seen the cat myself…more statues than anything.” Which was a sad thing to realize. Those poor people were trapped if they were still alive. He’d hoped that he’d see more rescues than Caleb had. “I’m hoping that most of the people needing rescues are just gone now instead of trapped. It’s been a while so it’s possible, right?”

Was she relieved that he wanted to help her, or disappointed? Even Cass didn’t know for sure. She hated being alone, but she hated the way he was looking at her, too. Concern was a funny thing. She always yearned for it right up until the moment she got it, always wanted it only until she had it. Because now, in moments like this one, she felt so weak. Nothing like the hero she so wanted to be, nothing like what she was supposed to be. She was weak and she was stupid and she hated it, but she didn’t know if she hated it more than she hated being alone. She didn’t know if she hated anything more than that.

“Yeah,” she confirmed with a nod, looking off in the direction he’d indicated. She told herself that she was helping him by letting him tag along, let herself pretend that she was keeping him out of the goo. “I haven’t seen a lot of people, either, but… There are some abandoned buildings down that way. People with nowhere else to go will sleep there sometimes when the weather is bad.” She didn’t mention how she knew that, didn’t add that she’d slept there herself on a pretty regular basis before Kuma found her way back when she’d first come to Wicked’s Rest. He didn’t need to know that; he just needed to know what she planned on doing now.

Her eyes darted to a nearby statue, a hint of grief shooting through her chest. She hoped the people beneath the stone were okay, even if it seemed impossible. “I’m sure most of the people who were in houses are,” she replied. “But… some people fall through the cracks in situations like this. Some people don’t have anyone looking out for them.”

“That makes a lot of sense actually.” He should have thought about that. He’d spent a lot of nights in random cemeteries and different places when he was younger and had come across a few of those people asking if he needed a place to stay. Caleb had always appreciated the offer. Ones with no place to go were always the kindest. He briefly wondered why her mind had gone there but didn’t want to bring it up in case it brought up something painful. It was likely that she just had a kind heart herself and was able to think about these things.

After a pause, her next words caught his ear and it was harder to pretend that her knowledge of the displaced was nothing more than her ability to think about the less fortunate. It sounded so much more personal. “We can definitely check those places out and get them to the shelter’s buses if we need to….thanks for thinking of them.” Because he sure hadn’t and now he felt guilt building up in his gut. Following her eye line to the statue nearest them, he wondered how many of these people didn’t have any place to go when they got caught up with the goo. She was right, most rescues would only think about the people who already had places they could hide away in first.

Caleb started to walk towards the buildings she had indicated, careful to keep an eye on the goo spots but also letting his gaze go back to her every now and then. He wasn’t being subtle with the worry that was coursing through him but at this point he didn’t care. Her pride could take a hit but if she collapsed in this he wasn’t sure she could come back from the goo. “Do you…know someone who might be down here?”

There were a lot of people who tended to be ‘forgotten’ by the general public. Even now, Cass often felt like she was one of them. She had places she could go, places where she’d be welcome to stay for as long as she needed — Alex’s cabin, Metzli’s house, Ariadne’s apartment — but there was a stark difference between your friends being there for you and strangers caring whether or not you were okay. Even caring wasn’t quite what she’d needed in her worst moments — she’d only wanted acknowledgement back then. For someone to see her, to recognize that she needed help. People had a bad habit of looking away when something was ugly, and there were few things uglier than this.

But there were good people out there, too. There were guys who’d brave the goo just to save a cat from succumbing to it, who wouldn’t hesitate to join her on her quest to save the people the rest of the world forgot about. “Yeah,” Cass replied, and she took the thanks even if she hated herself for it a little. She might need it if he asked too many questions, she told herself. Odds were, he’d have plenty of questions she didn’t want to answer if he found out about her cave. It was easier to have an easy out.

She trailed behind him as she walked, watching the goo just as carefully as he was. It was clear that he was concerned. It made her feel warm, like a fire flickering within her chest. It was rare for people to worry about Cass, but it had become more common since moving to Wicked’s Rest. She liked it. At his question, she shrugged a shoulder. “There are a lot of people in Worm Row who don’t have a lot of places to go. We just need to find them.” She rounded the corner, nodding to a warehouse. “There. People sleep in there a lot.” It didn’t look too surrounded by the goo.

As soon as she pointed out the right building he was eyeing her again. How did she know that? There was something deep down telling him that this knowledge came from personal experience more than from her being a volunteer somewhere but he also knew it wasn’t right to assume things. If she wanted him to know what this was about she would have said by now. It wasn’t like Caleb blamed her at all, he wouldn’t want to tell a complete stranger about his past either, but if this was her present truth it didn’t…sit right with him. If she needed a place to go he knew of plenty of people who would be happy to take her in. Hell, he would have himself if he wasn’t worried about her finding his…supply.

How awful would that look? He takes in a displaced young woman only for her to find freezers full of brains in his basement. It would scare her to death and he would definitely end up in jail this time around.

So he let it go. As much as he didn’t want to, he let go of the nagging feeling telling him to press this issue further. Instead he nodded at her and made his way towards the building to check it out and boy was he glad she had pointed this place out.

There were almost a dozen people lingering inside not knowing where to go or what they could do with the goo outside. As soon as he saw them all two things happened; one, he had confirmation that she knew more than she was saying about the displaced in Wicked’s Rest, and two, he knew he had to get one of the volunteer buses closer to this location to get them all to safety without a goo incident. “I think I need to go find a bus and bring it here instead of trying to get them all to another location. Are you okay to stay here with them?”

He didn’t ask any questions, and Cass was grateful for it. Still, she held on to that thank you. She shouldn’t have, she knew. It was a bad thing, a selfish one. So many people had been hurt by her tendency to make binds she had no business making. From Kuma’s death to Metzli’s anger, there was a string of consequences that existed between binds and the people they tied themselves around and still, even knowing that, Cass had trouble letting them go. So she kept this one, tucked away safe and waiting for a day when she might need to use it, even if she tried to convince herself that that day would never come.

Inside the warehouse, it was easy to focus on other things. There were people who needed help, people who were afraid and lost and alone. Some of them, she recognized. She thought they recognized her, too, around their fear, but most knew better than to say so. Cass carefully ushered them all to one side of the warehouse, as far away from the goo as they could get.

She saw the same problem Caleb did. Leading a group of people this size to safety without losing any of them would be a difficult task, and they couldn’t risk losing anyone. She shot him a worried glance, but he already had a solution in mind. A little relieved, she nodded. “Go,” she agreed. “I can keep them safe until you get back.”

As soon as she gave confirmation, he was off. There was no hesitating here. That stuff was spreading fast and if it found its way to the building they would all be trapped until they could get the goo off. Finding the bus they needed hadn’t been the hard part. The hard part came with navigating it through the street so that the goo didn’t take it over. Luckily, the thing was empty save for Caleb and the driver since she had just come from dropping off a load of others in Deersprings and they only had themselves to worry about. He watched as she carefully drove through the streets, taking as many detours as she could find once they realized one was too blocked off by the black sludge, and eventually they pulled up to where they needed to be thanks to the expertise of the woman.

The building was still safe but it wouldn’t be for long. There was goo coming their way, they would have to work quickly to get them all out.

Rushing in, he found the girl that had helped him with the cat, realizing too late that he didn’t even know her name, but they were a little busy. “So, good news is I have a bus sitting outside, bad news is we need to hurry because this building isn’t going to be safe for much longer.” Caleb clapped his hands together to get all of their attention, something he usually hated but didn’t have enough time to care. “Everybody! There’s a bus outside that can take you safety but we need to hurry or we’re going to get trapped in here.”

They weren’t moving. All they did was stare at Caleb like he was trying to trick them, suspicion in some of their eyes. Confusion took over before he realized that to them he was an outsider. Why would they trust him? Looking down at the other girl, he raised an eyebrow. “Think they might listen to you more than me?”

There were questions, while they waited. Cass did her best to answer them as they came, but it was difficult. No, she didn’t know what was going on. Yes, it was a dangerous situation. No, they couldn’t stay here. Yes, she understood that it was just as dangerous to be out in the city with no roof over your head at night in Wicked’s Rest. Some of the people knew her, trusted her. To others, she was a stranger. And it was hard, trying to convince any of them that she knew what she was talking about. She was a kid, in their eyes. A kid who, up until a few months ago, had been in the same boat they were in now. And these people were distrustful by default, unwilling to accept help when they didn’t know what would be asked of them in return. Cass understood it, but it certainly made things more complicated.

It was a relief, still, when the man returned with the bus. Cass felt her shoulders slump at the sight of him, felt the feeling rush in not unlike the goo they were trying to avoid now. “That’s good,” she breathed, nodding her head. “Seriously, that’s — I’m glad you found it. I don’t know what we would have done without it.” The people in this building wouldn’t have left, and Cass wouldn’t have abandoned them. It would have been a tragedy unreported by news outlets that didn’t tend to care about tragedies when the victims’ faces looked like the ones in this building.

But even with an easy route out, the distrust remained. The people looked to the man with dubious expressions, muttering to one another, and Cass’s heart sank in her chest. She looked to the man, then back to the crowd. She knew, of course. She knew what would be more effective, even if it meant admitting to things she’d rather keep private. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward.

“Look, I know how you feel. They evacuated the neighborhood, and they forgot about you. And — And there’s something really scary going on, and you don’t understand it, and you’re afraid. You have nowhere else to go, and I get that. I’ve been where you are. But if you stay here, you’re going to get hurt. You might get worse than hurt. I know it’s scary, I know. But if you let us get you somewhere safe, I won’t forget about you. I’ll make sure you have everything you need. Food, water, blankets. I’ll make sure you have a place to stay, somewhere safe. You just have to get on the bus.”

If Caleb weren’t living in Wicked’s Rest, if he hadn’t known about the things that could exist these days, this moment would have seemed so surreal to him. Having to get a bus to lead a bunch of people away from goo that was taking over anything it touched, not being able to convince a dozen people to get on said bus despite that major detail, and then a girl who looked like she could have been a child giving an inspiring little speech to spur them all forward could have been a scene straight from The Twilight Zone. Anyone else would have had a hard time thinking they were living their real life and not home snug in their bed while they ran through the dream in their head.

But it was real. This was their daily truth. And sometimes…rarely, he felt a sense of pride just to be witness to it all.

His look of worry started to morph into one of awe as each word left her lips. She couldn’t have lived much life yet and still she was able to be so open and personal in front of a bunch of strangers just to make sure they made it to safety. He could have chimed in, tried to relate like her, but it wasn’t needed. They were looking at each other for a beat before they decided to follow the girl’s instructions to get on the bus.

Caleb again felt that pride start to swell. Trust was so hard. He knew that little fact very well but every single one of them decided to swallow that fear in their gut and trust in the only option they had left. The zombie just kept nodding at people as they passed him, trying to give a reassuring smile to let them know that he too would be there if they needed him, but none of it would have been possible without her bravery. When the last person climbed the steps his smile turned on her, genuine words slipping past.

“See? I’m the one who needed you after all.”

#Threads #Thread: Cass #Who Needs Who?

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